John is a teacher, psychotherapist and retired adjunct professor of psychology at CIIS known for his pioneering work in integrating nondual wisdom and psychotherapy. He is the author of a new book entitled In Touch (Sounds True, 2015) and founded the superb online journal, Undivided: The Online Journal of Nonduality and Psychology (http://undividedjournal.com/). A long-time student of both Jean Klein and Adyashanti, he was asked to share the dharma by Dorothy Hunt, and has facilitated self-inquiry groups for a number of years. He also offers workshops and retreats. John brings a depth of experience, insight, warmth and compassion to his teaching work, and is especially skillful in guided inquiries and one-on-one dialogues.

“Awakening does not end with the discovery of our true nature as open awareness. This is only the beginning of another process. Life also invites us to discover the true nature of our body and, by extension, the world. There is a natural movement of open, loving awareness to saturate the densest levels of form in order to meet and free the areas of greatest confusion and suffering"

You are invited to join Tom as we explore this experience called me and my world. We’ll begin with an introduction followed by a brief guided meditation, then open dialogue. There is no question or concern that is too unworthy to be addressed. Often the most deep rooted problems are our gateway to the Love that we all are. Through this process Tom holds a sweet tender kindness that makes many who work with him feel held and safe. Within this supportive framework our full humanness is embraced and touched. As we radically accept and meet the worst of the worst, a gentle piercing happens as the entirety of our human experience melts in Being’s all-embracing arms, this ever present Love. We see that we are that Love, this sweetness that unconditionally holds our humanness.

In 2000, after a lifelong battle trying to hold onto his false sense of a separate self, Tom’s fight against Reality spontaneously ended, resulting in a shift into unitive consciousness or Being. Shortly thereafter, Tom was asked to share and has since been holding small group meetings at his home in Oregon and also with a group in Virginia. Tom is known for his humility and a profound acceptance of what is. The guidance moving through him has flavors of Advaita Vedanta, Sufism, Buddhism and, most importantly, an ongoing revelation of living in the moment.

Pamela evokes through dialogue, inquiry and her very presence the qualities of unconditional love and radical acceptance. She is celebrated for her ability to open the heart and create a space in which long-cherished struggles and notions about one's identity relax. Featured in the book Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Wisdom, Pamela is at her best in heart-felt dialogue, so please join us and bring your questions!

"Every thought, every feeling, is a visitor. You just say: Welcome. Come in and sit with me."
"There is a notion that we left paradise a long time ago. But this secret garden was the Heart, always here, just waiting for our return."
"Love is a magician. Everything it touches turns into itself."www.pamelasatsang.com

“The ego does die, but it is not what many think. The caterpillar transforms into a butterfly, dies to its old form and can never go back to being a caterpillar. Yet, if you look closely, the main body of it still retains its caterpillar form. Recognize that you are an ego and do not pretend to have wings by using non-duality jargon. We intuit the source within; now let us offer our self in devotional surrender as ego incarnate to the fire of grace. It is this fire which burns away all that is exclusive and leaves in its place a refined personality under the sole sovereignty of Love, which makes the will of the individual the will of the One. Giving rise to a complete human being.”

Atreya Thomas, author of Revealing the Absolute, Awakening into a Complete Human Being; and Revealing the Christ, is an extra-ordinary teacher who grew up in the inner cities of New Jersey; and writes as he speaks. Having cut his own path from outside any particular “school,” he speaks from experience free of dogma, and the results are fresh and enlivening; while bringing a unique urban style. His own life combines the duties of householder, devotee, and teacher in a lifestyle that focuses on being awake in the midst of ordinary life.

Atreya Thomas is a father of five children whom were all adopted through foster care. He continues to foster drug exposed newborns with his wife in California and works closely with underprivileged communities. Atreya holds Satsangs where invited, works as a preschool teacher, studied Medicinal Qigong for 20 years, and holds a degree in Psychology.

Join Jeannie and friends for an exploration into the potent depth of what’s often overlooked in the moment: being. Jeannie’s gift for inviting people to join her in resting and rooted presence evokes a deep meeting with oneself and reality. Within that, Jeannie’s humor and iconoclasm serve to bring people into an understanding that is beyond the intellectual. Through silent and guided meditation, a spontaneous talk and exchange with participants, Jeannie will host a space of clarity and warmth where the true richness of life can be experienced, and your innermost spiritual questions can be met fully. Come join us!

Jeannie is the director of Living as Love, a nonprofit organization dedicated to seeding a culture of the Heart on the planet, inspiring, teaching and supporting people to live from their essence as Love. A year before the birth of her daughter, Jeannie was plunged into a dark night of the soul that culminated in a radical shift of consciousness. She is known for her fearless clarity, tender mercy toward humanness, and a juicy, poetic and often humorous style that draws from Advaita Vedanta, Sufism, Christian mysticism and the ongoing revelation of fully engaged living. Residing in Colorado, she travels widely in the US, bringing a down-to-earth embodied teaching of living as love.

The capacity of the nervous system to Be Here is an essential element for Awakening, Embodiment, and for Freedom.

In our search for Truth the workings of the nervous system often remain hidden and we don't always fully understand or know experientially what capacity is and what Being Here really means or is.

When unmet, unexperienced tendencies of the Past arise - and we so often believe it or identify ourselves with that - that shows up as thoughts and as feelings, emotions and sensations and it affects and manifests in our physiology.

If there is no awareness of that and no capacity to Be Here our nervous system reacts and moves into fight/ flight /freeze or overwhelm and we end up re-enacting or suppressing and so perpetuating the Past.

The capacity of our nervous system to Be Here and experience the arising past is often the missing link between our desire for Truth and Freedom and our ability to independently experience Presence and Self-Inquiry, which is what takes us directly into Awakening, Embodiment and Freedom.

Neelam is a direct disciple of HWL Poonja (affectionately known as Papaji), whose own teacher was Ramana Maharishi. Neelam’s unequivocal commitment to Truth helps us turn inward and release underlying patterns of conditioning which block the recognition of our True Nature. With the utmost tenderness, she invites us into the same recognition of Truth that her teacher, Papaji, transmitted to her, while helping us to address all aspects of daily living, including past conditioning and trauma.

“Awakening is a shift from identifying yourself as this body to knowing yourself as Presence. Freedom means a true independence from the past, where our ability to Be Here and the action in the moment are not guided by our attachment to the arising past. To truly be Free we need to embody our recognition of Presence, and that requires growing of the capacity of our nervous system to Be Here. It is in the meeting of what arises that we find true and lasting freedom.”

About Open Circle

The Open Circle is part of a new spiritual paradigm grounded in experiential awareness, rather than belief systems. We’re a non-sectarian community dedicated to supporting the practices of mindful and open hearted awareness, drawing inspiration from a variety of spiritual, psychological, and scientific traditions, which point to direct experience as a source of wisdom and love.